The monkey made me do it

Fun with arson

Last night I was getting ready to go out with friends when out of nowhere the dogs started whining at the door. I assumed that their car had pulled up (sensitive hearing is a great doorbell) and grabbed my jacket and went outside. There was no car (sensitive hearing isn't always an accurate doorbell) but the night was clear and warm, so I grabbed my phone to harass the latecomers and decided to go for a stroll.

Smoke wafted through the air and I thought to myself what a great night it was for a barbecue. Then I turned and saw a dark column and thought to myself, "either that's a helluva barbecue or someone's having a bonfire". Then my brain finally clicked. People don't have bonfires in the city. I jogged to the end of my cul-de-sac and looked at the source of the smoke, which ended up being a new addition to a house just a few down from mine. I quickly hung up with my friends and called 911, sure that others HAD to have noticed the growing smoke column (now punctuated by sparks as the fire feasted on the exposed plywood and studs of the addition).

The operator picked up and I calmly said I wanted to report a house fire (again, assuming that I was the 5th or more to do so). She got the info and immediately transferred me over to the fire department. I heard sirens right away, and directed them to the house, which now had giant flames lapping up its side. The operator was flustered and kept pressing me for more and more info, asking my name and address and then asking for the address of the house that was on fire. I realized that I must be the first one, and told her that I was behind the house, and the sidewalk next to it now had flames going across it so there was no way I could get to the front and read the numbers. I gave all the landmarks around us and the street number, hoping that was enough. By the time I finished describing the area the trucks had arrived, on the front and rear streets, and the firefighters dragged hose past me and started going to work. The operator was yelling at me, asking which street the fire was on and I tried to tell her that the firefighters were already there. I got flustered, and told her the street I lived on instead of the street facing the fire, but it didn't matter in the end. She asked if there were any people around and I told her that I saw a guy earlier but that he looked like one of the people who lived there (totally shellshocked expression, kind of wandering around). She asked if anyone was around taking pictures and looking suspicious, but EVERYONE was taking pictures of that inferno (now it was up and over the roof, threatening the home next door). My neighbors were yelling for their kids and I saw sparks heading in the direction of my house. The operator hung up on me and I ran home to meet my upstairs neighbors already in the backyard, getting the hose in working order. He was watering the grass (where we saw most of the sparks falling) but I quickly educated him in the basic laws of fire (a.k.a. green things don't burn right away, dry things do) and had him wet down our roof, the wood shed's roof, and what we could reach of our neighbor's.

We stood in the smoke, watching the house go up and silently praying that it didn't spread too far. My neighborhood is not wealthy, and most houses contain multiple families. My friends called again and told me they were parked a little ways away (trying to avoid all the police and fire vehicles that were now swarming my street). They still wanted to go and wanted to know if I was game. Looking at the still-blazing inferno surrounded by 6 firetrucks and multiple police cars, I knew that any danger was likely past and headed out to meet my friends, stopping by a police car on the way to say hello and make sure that they didn't need any more info from me.

I still smell like smoke even after a shower, and found out this morning that the fire is thought to be part of a string of arsons around the south Seattle area. The operator was flustered because this was the fourth fire to be called in for our area that night (which also explains why the trucks got there so fast). A little scary, but that's modern life. Check out any of the main Seattle news agencies to see photos of the blaze (www.komotv.com has a nice video up right now).

posted by LadyJay @ 12:51 PM